| Jan Gomola | |
 | |
| Birth: | 20 March 1916 Dolní Lomná, Moravian-Silesian Region, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic) |
| Death: | 25 June 2021 Zábřeh, Ostrava, Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic |
| Age: | 105 years, 97 days |
| Country: |  CZE
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| Centenarian | |
Jan Gomola (20 March 1916 – 25 June 2021) was a Czech centenarian who was the oldest known living man in Czech Republic at the time of his death.
Biography[]
Jan Gomola was born in the village of Dolní Lomná, Moravian-Silesian Region, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic), on 20 March 1916, and comes from a very poor religious family. Although the family was officially Polish, its members actually felt Czech. When the Czech school was founded in Dolní Lomná in 1922, Jan became its first pupil. In 1938 Těšínsko was occupied by the Pols and he went to seek work in Berlin. He made his living as an interior painter. He got his working permit, based on which he was sent to the German army. As its member he travelled through France, then was sent to the Russian front. He took part in the Moscow march, survived many battles and his artillery unit got all the way to the sea of Azov. He spent four years at the Russian front and only had four holidays during that period, when he could go back home for three weeks. During retreating from the Red army in 1945, when his unit went past his home land, he secretly came back home. For fighting in Wehrmacht he encountered much hate and bullying after return home. After war he lived in a deep poverty and almost marginalized. In 1950s he moved to Ostrava and until pension he worked as a miner. He wrote a book on his travels through the Soviet Union called I found Katyn. It was only after war, when he found out that as a soldier he got to the mass graveyard of executed Polish officers in Katyn and saw their remains there, yet didn‘t know, what kind of place that was.
On 20 March 2016, he celebrated his 100th birthday, becoming a centenarian. In early June 2021, following the death of 107-year-old an anonymous man of Karlovy Vary Region, he became the oldest known living man in the Czech Republic.
Jan Gomola died in a nursing home in Zábřeh, Ostrava, Moravian-Silesian Region, Czech Republic, on 25 June 2021, at the age of 105 years, 97 days. Following his death, then 104-year-old Eduard Marek became the oldest known living man in the Czech Republic.
Gallery[]
References[]
- Další kniha o katyňském masakru a nejen o něm ČT24 - Česká televize, 18 May 2009
- Oslavy 103.narozenin pan Jana Gomoly Televize Polar, 26 March 2019
- Muž z Ostravy slaví dnes 105 let. Je jedním z nejstarších obyvatel Česka Moravskoslezský deník, 20 March 2021
- Jan Gomola (1916–2021) Ostrava – Radvanice, 25 June 2021
| Czech Republic's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E) |
|
Adam Raj • Unknown • Ludvik Petruj • Alois Vocasek • Julius Kubelka • Vojtech Dvorsky • Stanislav Vecera • Josef Flandera • Gabriel Miksa • Karel Kasparek • Jan Nitka • Stanislav Spacil • Martin Kahun • Cenek Petrik • Jiri Vysoudil • Anonymous • Anonymous • Jan Gomola • Eduard Marek • Karel Lavacek • Anonymous • Antonin Slenc |